HAVE you herd the one about a healthy ice cream made from Welsh buffalo milk?

It's no joke - the dessert created by Wales' answer to Mr Whippy could soon be in deep freezers across the UK.

Fresh from his water buffalo grazing on the Teifi Marshes in Cardigan, dairy farmer Duncan Aitkenhead makes the treat by mixing their milk and cream with sugar, organic egg yolk and a pinch of salt. There's even a good excuse for tucking in because buffalo milk has 58 per cent more calcium and 43 per cent less cholesterol than cow's milk - and it's perfect for people with allergies.

When Duncan and his wife Julie first started supplying specialist food stores in Wales, the exotically named La Belle Rouge Gelato di Latte di Bufala, proved a surprise hit with shoppers. Then last year they approached supermarket chain Waitrose to see if they wanted to stock the unique additive-free pud on their shelves. Now their tubs can be bought in the four Welsh branches of the supermarket and in one just over the border in Great Malvern. But they're hoping to up their production and supply the whole of the chain's UK outlets.

Duncan has been made a pin-up-boy by Waitrose, whose marketing bosses picked the ice cream to use as part of an advertising campaign. The response in the first couple of weeks has been huge.

"The ice cream is Duncan's baby, it was his idea to start with," said Julie, who explained there are only a dozen buffalo herds in the UK. "It is the first time we have been approached to be in an advertising campaign.

"We can see the demand increasing at the moment and there is more of a following for it. It is slow growth, but healthy.

"We are hoping they will allow us to extend the ice cream to other branches. There are health benefits attached to the ice cream such as the high levels of calcium in it. People like Duncan, who are intolerant to cow's milk, can also eat it."